Steam cooker



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w. McKr-:NNA

STEAM COOKER med Feb. 1o. 1921 Y www 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 17, 1927. v

w. MCKENNA STEAM cooxsn Filed Feb. 10. 1921 s sheets-sheet s MmmmPatented May 17, 1927.

UNITED STATE-s WILLIAM IVIOKENNA, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; AssIGNoR ToALBERT PICK a COMPANY,y

PATENT .i OFFICE.

"or" CHICAGdILLINoIs, 4Acomionn'rron oF ILLINOIS.

STEAM Cooxnn.

Application sled :February 10,1921. serial No. 443,794.

V V'I he invention relates to culinary steam cookers. l Y

@ne object of the invention is to provide the cooker with means forautomatically cut-` ting oitl the supply ofsteam to the cooking chamberwhen the door is open. In practice, it is objectionable to the cook tohave the steam escape ywhen the door is opened and VVby providing meansyfor automatically cutting oli the supply of steam to the chamber whenthe door is opened, this objection is overcome. i

Another object of the invention isto provide means for automaticallywithdrawing the vessel containing theifood from the cooking chamberwhenthe door is opened so that the vessel may be conveniently removed by thecook without likelihood ot suffering any burns from 4 Contact with 'thewalls -of v*the Acooking chamber. I

Anotherobj ect of the invention is to provide improved means ,formakinga'steamtight joint betweenfthe door and the walls of' thefcookingchamberto preventthe escape of steam from thechamber.`

Theinvention consists in the severalnovel I V'features hereinafter setyforth and more particularly delined by claims at vthe conclusionhereof.In the'drawings: Fig. .1 is a perspective of a cooker embodying theinvention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation." Fig. 3 isa detail of the vrdooroperated valve ltor controlling the supply of-st'eam to the cookingchamber.

^ Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of the cooking chamber, and .Fig..5 isa 'section taken on linel5-5 of Fig. 4. i

.The invention isexempliied in a cooker comprising a.base.6 usually madeup of wrought iron and .adapted to support one unit or severalsuperimposed units 7 which are alike in construction so that adescription of one will suitice for all.

Each unit T comprises an oven or enclosing structure consisting ofintegral back, top, bottom and side walls 8 and provided with airontopening9 adapted to.. be Closed bya ydoor 10. v.The inner face of the vdoor is adapted to bear kagainst a Vgasket 1'1 held in a groove 12in thefront. face of the .enclosing structure. VThis `door is supported toswing to one side of the oven. .Thesupporting connection` betweenthedoonand the oven Vcomprises an arm13, one yend of' whichV is .pivotedat 1 4 ina'lug luwliichisbolted to one side of the oven and the otherend of which ispivoted, at 16, to lugs 17 which are` riveted to thefront 'ace of the door. A. deviceorholding the door closed comprises alatch 18 which has one of its ends pivoted at 19 to alug 20 which isbolted to the other side offthe oven and a lever 21 which isprovidedwith an eccentric 22 is pivotally (ill connected to the other end ofsaid 'latch'at 23. The latch 18 permits the lever to be moved bodilyinto and out of operative relation with an arm 24 which has one of itsends'pivoted at 2 5-to lugs 26 which are .fixed to the front ofthe doorand its otherv end is provided lwith a concave` seator bearing 27 fortheeccentric 22 on the lever 21.' 'In order to cause an equalized pressureof the door againstthe gasket 11 and preventr the .escape v of steam'from the chamber in the oven, l screws 29 are providedjin the arm 2 4and vadapted to be 'adjusted to engag'ethe 'door and similar screws 30extendthrough the arm13. v:By adju'stingthese'screws which exemplifyadjustable abutments, the pressure'of thedoor againsty the gasket whenthe dooriis secured in closed position,"as

shown in'Fi'g. 4', will be evenly 'distributed f to preventileakageofthe steam at any point.

betweenthe oven and the door. Lugs 31 adjacent thefto'p land bottom ofarm 13 are provided withstops 32 which limit the movement of said 'armrelatively to the door. Similar Astop-lugs 33 `will limit the movement4ofthe arm-24Yrelatively to the door..l When theVv ldoor `is, to bereleased, the lever 21is swung about its pivot 23 to release` the arm 24and latch 18 and thelatter 'with the lever are swung laterallyto theposition shown in' dottedlines inl Fig. y4, whereupon, thedoor will be[free to be opened. To Close the door, the latch and lever will be reversely operated,A the eccentric 22 serving to lockv the 'arm24 and doorlO'in closed position, YVhen the screws 29 and 30 are correctlyadjusted, tthe doorwill be secured so thatV no steam will escape fromthe oven through the joint between the oven and the door.

.A steam supply pipe 34 is connected by branches35 to the units oftheCooker. 'Hand valves` 36 areadaptedto separately control the supply ofsteam to the units respectively so that any one ofthemmay, be operatedindependently'of the others.- An exhaust pipe 37 ris connected Ybybranches 38 tov all .the

door is open.

ythe employee.

units of the cooker respectively and is adapted to carry oli' the excesssteam from the cooking chambers. A pressure opened valve 39 is includedin each branch 38 so as to retain the desired pressure in the cookingchamber and to permit the excess to escape to the pipe 87. Thecondensation in fthe chambers is carried off by a pipe 40 which isconnected to each of the units respectively by a suitable drip pipe 41.

A cut-or" valve 44 included in each branch 35 of the steam supply pipeand a connection is provided for automatically controlling each of thevalves by the door for the chamber to which the branch leads. This valve44 vis of the self-closing plunger type and comprises a seat 45, aplunger 46 adapted to lit against the seat and prevent the flow of steamthrough the valve and a stem 47 on the plunger operated so that it willbe normally closed by spring 48. A connection for controlling the valve44 so that the supply of steam will be discontinued when the door isopen and which will be autematically opened when the door is closedcomprises a lever 49 pivotally supported at 50 and having one end formedto engage the stem 47, a rod 5l pivoted to the lower end oflever 49,extending through a guide lug 52 and provided at its front end with anadjustable sleeve 53 positioned to be engaged by an abutment 55 on doorl0. A spring 56 is applied to operate the connection to release thevalve stem 47` when the ldoor Vis open. As a result of thisconstruction, the door will automatically operate the connection to openthe valve 44 and to hold it open as long as the door remains closed andto automatically close the valve whenever the A characteristic of thisdevice is that the valve will be instantly and completely .closedduringt the initial opening movement of the door. This results fromcontrolling the self-closing valve by an abutmentat the free end of thedoor, so that a slight opening movement of the door will sullice toclose the valve.

In practice, employees are frequently burned in reaching into the ovento remove the vesselsA containing the cookedfood from the oven and onefeature of the present invention consists in providing mechanism forautomatically withdrawing these vessels troni the oven to avoid dangerof injury to For this purpose, the vessels containing the food to becooked are placed on a grid 6l which is slidably mounted in channel.bars 62 which are carried by angle bars 63 which are secured to thesides of the oven respectively. A linkagel comprising links 64 and 65serves as a connection between the door and the grid whereby the latterwith the vessels thereon will be automatically withdrawn from the oven'when the door is opened. Link 64 is pivoted ases to the grid at 66 andto link 65 at 6l'. Link is pivoted to the door at 68. A stop 69 isformed on link 64 which renders the linkage rigid betweenits end` pivotsaftergthe initial movement in opening the door. As a result of thisconnection, the grid or vessel support 61 will be operated into and outof the oven by the door. TWhen the door is opened, the grid will projectforwardly of he oven as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 5. As the dooris closed, the linkage 64,65 will operate the support and the "vesselsthereon into the back of the oven so that when the door is closed thegrid will be disposed entirely in the oven, as shown by full lines inFig. 5. lVhen the door is opened, the linkage will automaticallywithdraw the grid and the vessel 60 thereon so their front ends will bereadily accessible to the operator. By providing automatic connectionsfor shifting the vessel support and for closing the valve for`controlling the'steam to each oven, the work of the operator isrendered safe because the supply of live steam tothe oven isautomatically discontinued and the vessels are automatically withdrawn.

lThe invention is not to be understood as restricted to the details setforth, since.l these may be modified 'within the scope of theappendedclaiins, without departing from the spirit and scope of the.invention.'V

Y Having thus described the invention, what I claim asnew and desire'tosecure by Letters Patent, is:V A

j l. In a steam cooker, the combination of a structure having a chambertherein adapted to retain steam to heat the products placed therein, anda door for access to the chamber, said door being pivoted adjacent oneof its ends, a pipe for delivering steam into said chamber, aself-closingslide-valve .in said pipe, adapted to control the entirevolume of steam'delivered' to said chamber, means for securingthedoorclosed, and afdevice between the door and sai-d valve whereby thevalve will be held open while theV door is secured closedl andinstantaneously released so the valve will be Vautomatically andcompletely closed to entirely Acut" off the supply of steam during theinitial opening movement of the door, said device compris ing au elementwhich is entirely separable from the door to permit independent movementof the door after the valve has been closed. y

9,. `In a steam cooker, the. combination of a structure having a chambertherein Vadapted to retain steam to heat the products placed therein,and a door for accessv to the chamber, said door beingpivoted adjacentVone of its ends, a pipe for delivering steam Iinto the chamber, aself-closing slide-valve in the pipe adapted to control the entirevolume of steam v deliveredV into the chamber, means for sestructurehaving a chamber therein and pro- Y vided with a door pivoted at oneend, a steam supply, means for controlling the supply otA steam to saidchamber, a vessel-support movably siist-ained in said chamber, and aconnection between said supportwhereby the latter will be automaticallywitlidrawnfrom the chamber when the door is opened and y moved into vthechamber when the door is closed, comprising a pairl of links, one ofwhich has one of its .ends pivoted to the support and its other endpivoted to one end of the other link, the latter having its other endpivoted to the door, and a stop on one of the links to limit relativemovement of the links and render them relatively rigid so they willshift the support during a portion of each movement of the door.

4. In a steam cooker, the combination of a structure having a chambertherein and provided with a door, a steam supply, means for controllingthe passage of steam Yfrom the supply to said chamber, a pivotalsupporting connection between they door and the Y structure comprisingan arm pivoted to the door and to the structure, and an adjustableabutment between the door and the arm, and

means for holding the door closed.

5.` In a steam cooker, the combination of a structure having a chambertherein and pro-v vided with adoor, a steam supply, means forcontrolling the passage of steam from the supply to said chamber, apivotal'Y supporting connection between the door and the structure, anarm pivoted to the door, means s for securing the door closed comprisinga pivoted latch and a lever forl engaging saidA arm, and an adjust-ableabutment between said arm and the door.

6. In a steam cookenthe combination of a i structure having a chambertherein and provided with a door, a steam supply, means for controllingthe passage of steam from the supply to said chamber, a pivotalsupporting connection between the door and the structure comprising anarm pivoted to thedoor and to the structure, means for holding the doorclosed, comprising'an'arm pivoted to the door, and a lever for engagingsaid arm,

and adjustable abutments between t-he door and said arms respectively.

VILLIAM MCKENNA.

